Two birds share a quiet moment amid half a million Sandhill Cranes. Photo: Rick Wright
As it crosses the plains of central Nebraska, the Platte River hosts the greatest of all North American wildlife spectacles. Each spring, several million birds stop over here on their northbound migration; among them are some 600,000 Sandhill Cranes—more than 80 percent of the world population. Every evening the cranes return in their thousands from the fields and wet meadows to roost on the Platte’s broad channels and sandbars. Meanwhile, the nearby Rainwater Basin harbors a great variety of migrant and breeding waterfowl. Raptors are often numerous, and Greater Prairie-Chickens and Sharp-tailed Grouse will have begun their dancing displays in the 20,000 wild square miles of the Nebraska Sandhills.
This trip is timed to coincide with the peak counts of cranes and the beginning of the lekking season for prairie grouse. Other specialties regularly seen on our Nebraska tours include Ross’s and Richardson’s Cackling Geese, American White Pelican, Harlan’s Red-tailed Hawk, Baird’s Sandpiper, American Woodcock, Red-headed Woodpecker, Carolina Wren, Oregon Dark-eyed Junco, and Eastern and Western Meadowlarks. Our schedule lets us accommodate the possibility of a day of bad weather, and the relaxed pace of our tour lets us appreciate fully the extraordinary concentrations of birds that make the central Platte one of North America’s most famous birding destinations.
Day 1: The tour begins at 4:00 pm at our hotel in Carter Lake, Iowa, a short distance from Omaha’s airport. We’ll have an early dinner, then depart for nearby Lake Manawa, where we can hope for a good variety of waterfowl, large numbers of gulls (in some years including Franklin’s and Lesser Black-backed), and the antic displays of American Woodcock. Barred Owl and Eastern Screech-Owl are both possible here. Night in Carter Lake.
Day 2: We’ll have breakfast in our hotel, then visit the upland and floodplain woodlands of Fontenelle Forest. Just south of Omaha, this privately owned 1600-acre remnant of eastern deciduous forest can produce Red-headed and Pileated Woodpeckers, Winter Wren, Tufted Titmouse, “Red” Fox Sparrow, and a number of other eastern species not typically seen anywhere else on our route. After a fast-food lunch, we’ll take a driving tour of the area’s wetlands, hoping for waterfowl, shorebirds, and passerines including Harris’s and White-crowned Sparrows. Night in Carter Lake.
Day 3: Our morning will begin with a drive west to the central Platte River valley. Our first Sandhill Cranes will welcome us to Grand Island, where we’ll leave the interstate to drive the back roads in search of such specialties as Wild Turkey, Northern Bobwhite, Bald Eagle, Baird’s Sandpiper, and Harris’s and American Tree Sparrows. Arriving in Kearney, we’ll check in to our hotel and have an early dinner, then end the day on the banks of the Platte, where we’ll witness the amazing sight and sound of tens of thousands of Sandhill Cranes flying to roost in the river’s shallows. Night in Kearney.
Day 4: We’ll leave early this morning for a visit to a blind on the southern bank of the Platte, where we’ll watch the cranes wake up at close range. We’ll be in the blind for about two hours, after which we’ll return to Kearney for breakfast and check out of our hotel. We’ll drive the quiet gravel roads west, admiring concentrations of waterfowl and cranes—with luck including an early Whooping Crane—along the way. We’ll stop for lunch in one of central Nebraska’s small ranching communities, then push on into the Nebraska Sandhills, the largest area of stabilized dunes in the western hemisphere; roadside birds here could include Rough-legged Hawk, Lapland Longspur, and both prairie grouse species. We plan to arrive in Mullen in the mid-afternoon, where we’ll check in to our motel and meet our local guide for the half-hour drive to a large Greater Prairie-Chicken lek. We’ll watch the chickens from our comfortable blind—a converted school bus just a few feet from the lek—until sunset, then return to Mullen for dinner and an early night. Night in Mullen.
Day 5: This will be an early morning, but well worth the early rising: we’ll leave our motel before 5:00 am to visit the dancing grounds of the comical Sharp-tailed Grouse. Among the other possibilities in this area is Ferruginous Hawk, a species only rarely seen east of here. We’ll remain in our big yellow blind until the birds leave for their brunch, likely around 8:00, then return to Mullen for our own hearty breakfast. The return drive to eastern Nebraska will be a chance to catch up on our rest and perhaps to stop for a “missed” bird or two along the way. Night in Carter Lake.
Day 6:This morning we’ll pay a repeat visit to Fontenelle Forest or other eastern Nebraska hotspots, letting our choice be determined by any good birds discovered in our absence. A few days can make a big difference in late March, and we may find that Louisiana Waterthrush, Rusty Blackbird, or Brewer’s Blackbird has arrived while we’ve been in the west. We’ll return to Omaha’s Eppley Airfield at noon, where the tour ends.
Updated: 12 April 2012
Prices
- 2013 Tour Price : $1,650*
- Single Occupancy Supplement : $230
Notes
This tour is limited to seven participants with one leader.
* Tour invoices paid by check carry a modest discount. Details here.